, 1887-06-07
TIE C%OSTERMONGER.
ONE OF THE MOST UNclVILIzEo
oENIzENS OF LONDON.

To the Street and Barrow Born-Tho
State tho Regulator of the Coster'S
~FamIIy-Stowod Away at HIght-Inves-
tiEatIon.
l find the present generation OF London
~costers, as n rule, to the manner, or, per-
haps l should say, to the street and bar
row born. 1t Is rarely a man thus born,
and who has carried a shallow" Ia flat
basket, or showed a barrow from boy
hood, ever gets out of the business. He
may rise into a green grocer, a coal shed,
n fried fish shop, or even a bacon and
butter establishment, by dint of great in
dustry, but this is a dizzy eminence which
few costers attain, and Of which the ma
jority do not dream. He is indeed fortu-
nate IL, after q busy life OF almost cease-
less toll, he can gaze upon as his own u
faithful diminutive ass, u barrow, n few
baskets, and such other necessary nipple
ments of trade, together with sufficient
ready cash to make his daily purchases.
If TO his be added the furniture for one
or two rooms in q back court or alley, and
a Sunday suit for himself and ''best
dress" for the "old gal, " we have, from
the standpoint of a costermouger, a pic
ture OF a thoroughly weil-to-do man, IL
not of opulence itself.
Reliable statistics as to the present
number Of London costermongcrs ure I'M
o~btainnble, but / am satisfied that an es-
innate of 5000 adults is below rather
than absve the mark. The coster has
long enjoyed the luxury of working his
entire family, including his wife. Home
life has no charms for him. His home is
IN the streets and his recreation ground
the corner gin shop. Up long before sun
rise in the morning, he pushes his quaint
little barrow or spurs his stubborn donkey
on to market, and is ready to pick up bar
gains in fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts or
anything else that can DO sold again.
And then tho object is to sell. In this
work he presses into service his wife or
female companion, for the majority of
costers waive the marriage and
all the children that the school board in
spectors don't snatch from him. The
average coster's idea of his duty toward
his family is to provide for them on the
lowest scale compatible with keeping in
quiry at Il distance, and work them on
the highest. The state, to n large extent,
Is the regulator of the coster's family.
Now and again 1t steps in and compels
him to take charge OF his offspring, it in
tervenes in his gentle pastime of jumping
on the ''old woman" and 1t captures the
budding %costers, male or female, claps
them, ragged, dirty, uncivilized, into a
board school, and turns them out beau
tiful little s~cholards.n But the state Is
'''arsh and harbitrary," he growls, ''and
'%costers ave no rights in these days of
board schools, street improvements, model
tenement 'ouses, and the like
Pardon the depression. 1t Is not often
that the stock is closed out, even by the
united efforts OF the family, until long
after dark. There is no evening meal, no
cheerful fire awaiting the nomad of Lon
don's thousand miles Of streets. He and
his wife have taken their bread and penny
worth Of fried fish, hot from the fish shop
at the top of the court, and washed it
down with a pint of 'three penny at the
neighboring pub. The children have
Tapped up their meals in the same man
ner, like Gideon's Eosts, as they marched
along. And IL the night does not end in
gin drinking, fuddled heads, and perhaps
in blows, are the closing scenes
The whole family tucked away in some
vile cellar or room IN what is known us
'Coster's district" The barrow, covered
with u sack or two, acts as u bed for some
of the smaller members of the family
the father and mother n probably a
daughter and son of IA or is, all huddled
together in one room, some sleeping on
the floor. Under the bed, if there is one,
are the vegetables remaining unsold.
Here calmly repose the 'fine fresh water
cre-e-ses," the CHERRY ripe" "flne ripe
plums," the ''inguns," Of to morrow, and
not infrequently the ''ni-ew mackercl,"
and 'all large and alive or new sprats
or which the denizens of London are to
relish next day.
If l may judge, after reading the volu-
minous testimony before the royal COM
mission on housing the poor, the one thing
that commission did not solve was what
becomes of the coster's donkey ut night.
The combined interrogations of the Prince
of Wales, Lord Salisbury, and Sir Charles
Dixie failed to legally establish where the
coster kept his donkey, his barrow and
his surplus stock, though one cruel wit
ness deposed that water cress was gener-
ally kept under the bed, sprinkled with a
little water n sold next morning as
fresh gathered water cress. The school
inspectors generally declared that the
coster preferred the old haunts, end would
not go to a respectable tenement house il
the opportunity was afforded. They can
not make themselves sociable nor affiliate
with other people in any way. Few of
their children attend school, and it was
difficult to find a school to get them into,
as they were so ragged n dirty. The
habits OF the coster made him q disagree
able neiGhbor. He deposited his fish and
refuse vegetable matter In the common
dust bin of the court, hitched his donkey
in the back yard and stored his unsold
stock in his room. In fact the London
costermonger is the terror of the pro-
moters of model tenement houses, and it
Is said that he will wreck a new house in
a very short time.-Robert p. Porter in
Inter Ocean.